Read John 1: 29 – 42

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ³¹ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ ³² And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” ³⁴ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ³⁹ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). ⁴² He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon, son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

‘When Andrew met Jesus’ – recalled by the un-named disciple

An imagined reminiscence!

What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours!

Well, these have certainly been an extraordinary 24 hours. We’d just finished work yesterday afternoon, and Andrew and I felt pretty tired, so we went to listen to John. He’s an amazing bloke! He’s totally transformed our lives. Andrew and I just love to listen to him, and sometimes we watch him baptising people in the river.

Anyway, we were hanging round, when all of a sudden, John pointed to this man on the other side of the road and made this loud – well I don’t quite know what the word would be – a loud declaration I suppose ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God’ he said.

Well, we both turned to stare at the man he was pointing at. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? And this is the really strange bit, there was – how do I explain this? Well, there was something about him! I can’t really describe quite what it was. He was just a man, but at the same time we could tell straight away that he had something else about him, something quite extraordinary, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I know, I sound a bit mad. But it really was incredible.

Anyway, John’s an amazing man, and I’ve learnt a lot from him. It’s been great being one of his disciples. But I had this sudden and complete sense that I really needed to be following this other guy – this ‘Lamb of God’, whatever that means.

And so, we did – I mean both of us, Andrew and me, we literally followed him. We tracked him through the streets. It sounds a bit crazy, stalking someone we’d never actually even met, but it was the only thing to do.

And just when I was starting to wonder what on earth we were doing, he turned round and looked straight at us, and said, ‘What are you looking for?’

Well, what a question! I didn’t really know what to say, and yet I felt sure I would find it, what I was looking for, whatever that is. But how do you say that? So, instead we asked him where he was staying. But, d’you know what, that was the best question we could have come up with as it turns out, because he invited us to his house, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon

This man meant business, he clearly intended to spend time with us, we were going to have the luxury of a proper chat – all evening and into the night. I could have listened to him for ever.

And, d’you know another thing? I think he is the Messiah. Yes, that’s right, you did hear me correctly! I think – in fact I believe; well, I know, he is the Messiah!

So, we’re his disciples now, Andrew told his brother, Simon, and introduced him to this man Jesus, and he’s a follower now.

We’re going to go with him, and we’re all going to tell everyone that Jesus is the Messiah.

What a difference a day makes!

Prayer

Spend a moment in prayer…

Lord, I thank you for the example of Andrew,
who brought his brother to Jesus by passing on what he had heard.
I thank you for the people who brought me to you, Lord Jesus;
for those who have taken the time with me in so many ways,
encouraged me in the bad times, as well as in the good.

Thank you for those who have taught me that I can come to you in prayer
those who have passed on familiar words to me,
words that you taught us to pray; words that have echoed through the years

The Lord’s Prayer….